Announcing the Release of GRCSE Version 0.25

1/14/2011

Last month, the BKCASE™ project released a draft of the Graduate Reference Curriculum to Advance Systems Engineering (GRCSE™) for limited review. BKCASE (Body of Knowledge to Advance Systems Engineering) is led by a university partnership between the Stevens Institute of Technology and the Naval Postgraduate School with substantial sponsorship and funding from the US Department of Defense and support from major professional societies including the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the International Council on Systems Engineering. The release of GRCSE builds on the earlier publication of the draft Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge (SEBoK), which is expected to become the authoritative guide to systems engineering knowledge worldwide.

GRCSE is a set of recommendations for a systems-centric master’s level graduate program in systems engineering, together with implementation guidance for a university to satisfy those recommendations. GRCSE is being created to:

Improve existing graduate programs in systems engineering from the viewpoint of universities, students, graduates, employers, and systems customers and users;

Assist in the development of new master’s systems engineering programs by providing guidelines on curriculum content and advice on how to implement those guidelines;

Support increased enrollment in systems engineering programs by increasing the value of those programs to potential students and employers; and

Assist in understanding the diversity of available systems engineering educational programs, and to assist prospective students and employers in gauging the suitability of a particular program for their individual purposes.

GRCSE was developed by many of the nearly 50 professionals from a dozen countries who participate in BKCASE. Dr. Tim Ferris of the University of Southern Australia was the lead author for GRCSE. Dr. Art Pyster from Stevens Institute of Technology leads BKCASE with co-lead Dr. David Olwell from the Naval Postgraduate School.

The initial draft of GRCSE (version 0.25) was released to a set of reviewers on December 17, 2010 and will be available for review until March 7, 2011. This initial draft contains:

Context and guidance for the construction and maintenance of GRCSE: the BKCASE vision for GRCSE as well as the relevant constraints on the development of GRCSE to meet that vision